Album Notes

A Carnival of Acoustic and Electric Songs.

"Industrial Tepee's woozy tempos, warbled vocals and economical guitarwork find a happy medium between Beck's quirky pop and Guided By Voices' four-track regalia" - CMJ

"What Divine Engine" is the third release by Industrial Tepee. Tom Shaner started the idea for this band after playing solo in the subways and small East Village clubs back in the early nineties while reluctantly attending N.Y.U. While trying out new songs at small dives such as the Chameleon Club , he sharied the bill with other artists like Beck, King Missile, and Lach. Tom was soon asked if he wanted to make a record with PNYM Records. A vinyl release followed in the spring of 1990 to great reviews and college radio play. The sound of the self-titled release was praised by Option, CMJ and many other magazines. Some compared the music favorably to the Talking Heads, Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Tom Waits.

Around this time a deep friendship was begun between Tom and South Carolina singer/songwriter Danielle Howle. The band toured the US. playing then (and now) with Danielle as often as they all could. Industrial Tepee changed members, honing the sound along the way. In 1992 guitarist and songwriter Bob Sharkey joined up with Tom Shaner and deepened the music's sensibility. After some touring and many local New York City gigs with friends such as Jeff Buckley, Tom Clark, Daniel Harnett and Danielle Howle the band released the self-produced " Hymns for the Civil Savage " in 1994 to great reviews. Another national tour followed with Tepee opening for the Dave Matthew's Band out west and being featured as headliners down South. The live show and song catalogue continued to grow, prompting some to claim that Industrial Tepee stands somewhere in the folkadelic world between Beck , Tom Waits and The Talking Heads.

Throughout late 1995 and through to early 1997 Tepee began recording dozens of new songs at StonyBrook Studios, the home of close friend Claude Coleman,jr. (drummer of Ween). Stirring together melodically based songs (some acoustic others more electric) with more rhythmically based cinematic-groove songs the band planned on another release with Claude as producer. This is when Charles Newman of Mother West heard what Tepee had been doing with Claude . He asked if he could re-record one the tunes, "Groove Queen of the 21st Century " for a compilation. It worked out well. Then Charles decided to produce a full-length CD on Mother West. The band recorded ten songs in less than week and added five tunes from the StonyBrook Sessions produced by Claude.

Lead vocalist Tom Shaner and Newman are currently in the studio working on new songs for an upcoming release.